Police swung into action on Thursday morning after students of Mandela secondary school rampaged around 2 am and shattered the glass panes in their dormitories and classrooms and demolished the perimeter wall at the school.
The students are protesting what they term as poor-quality meals and maladministration. Students explained that they are being fed rotten beans since the term began.
According to the students, their pleas to the top school authorities have not yielded any results, which left them with no option but to strike.
“We cannot continue to be fed on rotten beans yet our parents are paying a lot of school fees but the school management does not want to listen to our issues”, said one of the students.
Another student wondered why the school management has to wait for them to strike before addressing their grievances.
The head teacher, Roland Ndiwalana, says that they had to call in the anti-riot police because the situation was out of hand.
He says the school management is profiling the students and will soon identify the ringleaders of the strike for appropriate action.
Ndiwalana says they will not close the school because of the strike, adding that normal activities will go on as planned.
At the time of filing this story, parents had started flocking to the school after learning about the strike. Julius Hakiza, the Albertine region police spokesperson that police will maintain a presence at the school to contain the situation.
